E-series lego musings

[carrot]

Before you TL;DR, I'm starting this thread to discuss E-series legos. Please share what's been working for you!

TL;DR: I did a bunch of E-series lego and got a bunch of crazy frankensteins and now I'm marveling all over again at how great the E-series system has been for us.

2020 was a strange year in flashlights for me. I was fortunate enough with job stability, and flashlights have become escapism. I got back into productions, then Anduril feature bonanzas, then back into customs. Now I'm revisiting my entire collection and how they might lego together.

I have never been entirely satisfied with the Haiku AA, very nearly perfect in hand feel but something feeling "off" in use for the way I use lights. Despite all that it made its way into my pocket more often than I expected, so I thought it worth exploring what could improve it.

First, I tried swapping the Haiku AA head for the Malkoff MDC 4-6v head. The new ones are incredible with the SST-20 4000K. Absolutely beautiful in beam and tint. This necessitated switching to a 14500, and I immediately found most of my 14500s are actually oversize in spec for an AA light. Not so good. I did have one 14500 that fit so off I went. This was a marked improvement.

Now to find a home for the Haiku AA head. The Haiku AA is unique in that while it is designed for a 1.5v battery, it is fully capable of consuming a 4.2v lithium ion (though without any brightness improvement and likely burning off the excess voltage). That makes it ideal, actually, for CR123 lithium primaries! I put it on an E1B body. This works great, by the way.

https://share.getcloudapp.com/L1uN6dBk

That left the E1B-MV head. It turns out that the E1B-MV runs awesome on a 16340 but sucks them dry in less than half an hour. Perfect for a larger cell! Well, the Malkoff 18650 Bodyguard body is fully capable of hosting nearly any E-series, and the E1B-MV has a spring in it which makes battery compatibility a little smoother. Perfect. Now the E1B-MV has become a hybrid Bodyguard/Tactician, or more accurately, very nearly the 18650 Tactician I've been lusting after.

All three of these were marked improvements, but I found myself wishing for the "complete" Haiku look. If the Haiku head weren't so pretty, I'd have no problems leaving the MDC on the AA Pak. Digging into my box of lights, A Tana SuperLE Haiku! For some reason, while being one of the most hotly desired of my grails, I never got "into" it, so the head with its highly capable H17Fx driver went onto the AA Pak, again requiring a 14500. The Haiku AA head, on the 123 Pak with a primary (as the Haiku has always naturally felt at home with).

With the SuperLE, I have a Haiku that is among the lowest moonlights of my collection, a very respectable high, and a wildly intuitive UI that feels like an extension of my brain.

That left, for those keeping track, the E1B-MV body. Naturally, the MDC went on it, making for the perfect "beater" light with rakish good looks.

Long story short, I'm now left with:

- a flawless EDC: complete "skinny" Haiku with Tana SuperLE, DrJones H17F, running a 14500 battery

- a fancy battery vampire: complete "classic" Haiku with a pseudo-"3S" engine capable of taking a CR123A down to 0.9v or so

- an 18650 "Tactician": E1B-MV on a Malkoff 18650 body

- a highly capable "Surefire Backup": a Malkoff MDC on a deep-carry E1B body

- and a new order of parts to try out from LumensFactory

https://share.getcloudapp.com/4gu142l0

And who knows where the E-series lego will take me next!

 

[akula88]

It might be nice if you share with us some photos.

 

[archimedes]

It might be nice if you share with us some photos.

Good idea. And I'll post up a few of my own favorites ....

 

[flashy bazook]

Beautiful flashlights, archimedes!

On the 18650 with E-bodies, wouldn't 16650 make more sense?

 

[archimedes]

Beautiful combo flashlights, archimedes! ....

Thank you, cheers !

 

[ten5three]

Before you TL;DR, I'm starting this thread to discuss E-series legos. Please share what's been working for you!

TL;DR: I did a bunch of E-series lego and got a bunch of crazy frankensteins and now I'm marveling all over again at how great the E-series system has been for us.

2020 was a strange year in flashlights for me. I was fortunate enough with job stability, and flashlights have become escapism. I got back into productions, then Anduril feature bonanzas, then back into customs. Now I'm revisiting my entire collection and how they might lego together.

I have never been entirely satisfied with the Haiku AA, very nearly perfect in hand feel but something feeling "off" in use for the way I use lights. Despite all that it made its way into my pocket more often than I expected, so I thought it worth exploring what could improve it.

First, I tried swapping the Haiku AA head for the Malkoff MDC 4-6v head. The new ones are incredible with the SST-20 4000K. Absolutely beautiful in beam and tint. This necessitated switching to a 14500, and I immediately found most of my 14500s are actually oversize in spec for an AA light. Not so good. I did have one 14500 that fit so off I went. This was a marked improvement.

Now to find a home for the Haiku AA head. The Haiku AA is unique in that while it is designed for a 1.5v battery, it is fully capable of consuming a 4.2v lithium ion (though without any brightness improvement and likely burning off the excess voltage). That makes it ideal, actually, for CR123 lithium primaries! I put it on an E1B body. This works great, by the way.

https://share.getcloudapp.com/L1uN6dBk

That left the E1B-MV head. It turns out that the E1B-MV runs awesome on a 16340 but sucks them dry in less than half an hour. Perfect for a larger cell! Well, the Malkoff 18650 Bodyguard body is fully capable of hosting nearly any E-series, and the E1B-MV has a spring in it which makes battery compatibility a little smoother. Perfect. Now the E1B-MV has become a hybrid Bodyguard/Tactician, or more accurately, very nearly the 18650 Tactician I've been lusting after.

All three of these were marked improvements, but I found myself wishing for the "complete" Haiku look. If the Haiku head weren't so pretty, I'd have no problems leaving the MDC on the AA Pak. Digging into my box of lights, A Tana SuperLE Haiku! For some reason, while being one of the most hotly desired of my grails, I never got "into" it, so the head with its highly capable H17Fx driver went onto the AA Pak, again requiring a 14500. The Haiku AA head, on the 123 Pak with a primary (as the Haiku has always naturally felt at home with).

With the SuperLE, I have a Haiku that is among the lowest moonlights of my collection, a very respectable high, and a wildly intuitive UI that feels like an extension of my brain.

That left, for those keeping track, the E1B-MV body. Naturally, the MDC went on it, making for the perfect "beater" light with rakish good looks.

Long story short, I'm now left with:

- a flawless EDC: complete "skinny" Haiku with Tana SuperLE, DrJones H17F, running a 14500 battery

- a fancy battery vampire: complete "classic" Haiku with a pseudo-"3S" engine capable of taking a CR123A down to 0.9v or so

- an 18650 "Tactician": E1B-MV on a Malkoff 18650 body

- a highly capable "Surefire Backup": a Malkoff MDC on a deep-carry E1B body

- and a new order of parts to try out from LumensFactory

https://share.getcloudapp.com/4gu142l0

And who knows where the E-series lego will take me next!

We must be on the same wavelength. I too have recently went back to lego'ing Surefire parts. Of all the lights I've ever owned there are very few that check all the boxes like a properly lego'ed Surefire does, E-series or C-series.

For me, the lego journey started back up when I found a bunch of old Surefire E/C-series lights as "new/old stock" in a brick and mortar store while traveling through TX. They had a wide selection of lights dating back to circa 2005. To make matters worse (or better, depending on your perspective) everything not in their current catalog were clearance priced to more than 50% off. I wound up with two old L4's, three 200/5 E2DL's, a Gen. 6 L1, an E2L, an E1L, a C2 HA, two Z2's, and two M2's and I got it all for right around $400.

I kept just about all of them in their boxes except for the C2, and the three E2DL's. Naturally, I started swapping parts. The 2007 XR-E's in the E2D's were great back then, but leave a bit to be desired now. So, I cracked the heads open on all three, de-soldered the stock SF MCPCB's and swapped them out for one 3000K XP-L HD, one 3000K 319A, and one 3000K 219B. They all fit the stock TIR lenses well, and actually make great beam patterns. Great (larger) focused hotspots with plenty of bright spill and a smooth transition. Runtime is also improved, and output on high is right around 400-500lms, while low is around 15-20lms. Just about the perfect setup.

I took the modified heads and swapped bodies. One went on an Oveready E35 body with a 6PX/McClicky tailcap, one went on an E1B-MV body, and one will be going on one of the brand new Lumens Factory 18350 E-series bodies that I should have Monday.

All-in-all, the emitter upgrades have made a vast improvement in performance, beam profile, and tint. While they don't throw as far as they used to, they still do much better than a stock E1B-MV head while offering just as much (or more) output, and just as much spill... without sucking a cell dry in 5min. I'm very happy with the results and have been carrying one of them for quite a few weeks now with no complaints!

Good to see the lego world still going strong! Still some of the best options out there!

 

[ten5three]

 

[troutpool]

View attachment 13317

E-legos have been among my top two interests here. (The other is 1xAAA lights.) Here are my current favorites:

1. Aleph 19 build with RPM tail and a Nichia 219B module from datiLED inside.

2. Aleph 1 build with RPM tail and older cool white module with unknown emitter.

3. Another Aleph 19 build, Aleph 2x123 body, and RPM tail.

4. VME head, Aleph 1.5x123 body, and brass RPM tail, Malkoff Nichia dropin. The heavy brass tail helps with the balance.

5. Oveready BOSS E-head on an old aluminum McGizmo clicky pak. Very light weight and pocket friendly.

6. Ti VME head on ti McGizmo pak, Malkoff Nichia dropin.

7. McGizmo mule on datiLED CR2 body with RPM tail.

 

[archimedes]

.... E-legos have been among my top two interests here. (The other is 1xAAA lights.) Here are my current favorites:....

Those look great (and your picture displays fine for me)

Interesting use of the brass tailcap to balance the brass heatsink inside the VME bezel

 

[troutpool]

Thanks, archimedes. I redid the photo using Imgur and I can see it now too.

 

[troutpool]

Here, a year later, are my current combinations:

1. BOSS E-head on unanodized aluminum Mcgizmo clicky pak.

2. VME head with Malkoff dropin on Aleph 1x123 battery tube with brass RPM tailcap.

3. Aleph 19 head, Aleph 1.5x123 battery tube, titanium RPM tailcap.

4. VME head with Malkoff dropin, Aleph 1.5x123 battery tube, Lumens Factory SW01 Fatty tailcap.

5. VME head with Malkoff dropin, datiLED CR2 battery tube, RPM tailcap. All titanium.

 

[euroken]

Man, this brings up memories 😁

From the past:

https://www.candlepowerforums.com/threads/photos-of-or-triples-the-boss-is-here-post-away.427878/post-5088158

Show your Oveready Collection!

I only see a knife and a few silicone rings, no flashlight, sorry :D

www.candlepowerforums.com

Thank you for the thread!

 

[808vudoo]

Long live the e-series! There are so many options available, and with modern emitters and drivers, the assortment and customization is endless. Look forward to seeing all your combos and upgrades!
Big Aloha D

 

[nbp]

 

[kerneldrop]

I bet most of Denki Man's dropins will fit in the VME head

 

[troutpool]

Three more:

1. Nickel plated Aleph 2 build with CR2 battery tube and FT tailcap with 2-stage McE2S switch installed.

2. Lumens Factory E1E clone with their slim Baker's Cap tailcap and Surefire diffuser.

3. Titanium McGizmo Mule on ti 1x123 pak.

EDIT: And I just found a new combination: Lumens Factory P60 to E head on a Malkoff 2xAA body. With a triple dropin in the head, this is a very nice light, indeed.

 

[hamhanded]

Does anyone know the MCPCB size of the Backup MV before I crack one open?